Born in the Todd

Herbie Laughton is standing on a rocky outcrop on the edge of the Todd River, almost in line with the Alice Springs Hospital. This is the place where at the age of twenty eight, his mother showed him he was born.

Herbie Laughton is standing on a rocky outcrop on the edge of the Todd River, almost in line with the Alice Springs Hospital. This is the place where at the age of twenty eight, his mother showed him he was born.

"I asked her, 'I wasn't born in the hospital?'"

"'No,' she said, 'you weren't born in the hospital you were born down here. Your hospital's down here in the Todd River.'"

The son of a Russian miner called Simon Reif and a local Aboriginal woman, Herbie Laughton was born on the 7th of February, 1927. He was taken from his mother as a toddler and sent to the Jay Creek settlement, 48 kilometres west of Alice Springs. After a few years the Jay Creek settlement was abandoned due to lack of water. As a five year old he walked with a group of people back into Alice Springs to the Telegraph Station.

Herbie grew up at the Telegraph Station on the banks of the Todd River along with many other kids who were separated from their parents according to the government policy of removing children of mixed heritage. It wasn't until many years later that he made contact with his mother.

"She didn't show me this site until I was close on twenty eight years of age. Because she wasn't here, she was down in Port Augusta and I couldn't get to know her because I was working on the roads. When she came back I asked her a lot of questions," says Herbie.

While growing up at the Telegraph Station, Herbie spent a lot of time by the Todd River, playing on the rocks and in the hills behind the dry river bed. Herbie stayed at the Telegraph Station until the age of fifteen when he left to work on stations around the Northern Territory. But his days at the 'Old Bungalow' are still strong in his mind.

"We used to get this river sand and carry it in our shirt and climb up to that slippery rock and spill the sand on the rock. We got a sheet of iron and we'd come down that slippery rock that fast and we used to come down and flop into the water!"

It was on the banks of the Todd River that Herbie penned one of his songs, 'Old Bungalow Days' about life at the Telegraph Station. The tree that he wrote the song under still stands today, right next to the large 'slippery rock' the kids used to slide down.

"I don't know what made me come down here with my guitar. I just shut my eyes and all of a sudden I could hear this breeze blowing through the trees and I imagined kids splashing around in the water and I could hear my name being called."

Herbie Laughton made his name as a well known country singer, writing songs such as 'My Desert Rose' and 'Ghan to Alice.' His song writing career began at an early age when country singer Tex Morton visited the Bungalow and played for the children. At the age of ten, Herbie was inspired by the music. The history of Central Australia would become one of the main themes of his music.